Brightest of the Age
by losttobefound
Summary: Hermione returns to Hogwarts and takes the DADA post as a cover so she could quietly investigate the strange events that has been happening inside the school. She should've listened to the warnings, she should've recognized the signs, but when love gets thrown into the equation, even the brightest witch of her age could make mistakes, dangerous and deadly mistakes. AU


**Authors Note:** This is my first HP fanfic so please take a chance with it. Ron and Hermione are not together and this story is set a couple of years after the trio would have graduated from Hogwarts.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. This story is merely a play with the HP characters with my own story ideas.

" _Sometimes, the hunger for knowledge is far more deadlier than any known poison or curse._ "

\- **The Hogwarts Scribe**

xoxo

Nostalgia washed over Hermione as soon as she set foot on platform 9 ¾. The familiar noise of children running around, parents chasing after them and the assistants that were doing their best to guide everyone to their proper places brought back memories from her past. To her, it seemed like only yesterday when she first rode on the Hogwarts Express, her first trip in which she had met her two best friends, Harry and Ron, her two companions that would stand beside her on the battle against Lord Voldemort.

Slowly and carefully, Hermione navigated her way through the sea of people that is crowding the platform. Just like before the war, there is a lot of families, students, well wishers and other school staffs that are coming back for the new semester. It was a welcomed sight since it means that people's lives are slowly going back to normal after the war. She was so absorbed with looking at all the happy faces around her that she failed to notice that she was about to bump into someone.

Hermione didn't see it until it was too late. A large mass of black hair suddenly crashed against her causing her to fall flat on her bottom followed by books crashing against the cold floor of platform 9 ¾.

"I'm sorry." The young girl said while she quickly picked up her books.

"No, I'm sorry. My mind wasn't in the right place." Hermione apologized while helping the girl pick up her things. The young girl simply hummed in acknowledgement and continued on with her task. Once they were able to pick up all of her belongings, she stood up straight. This gave Hermione the chance to properly look at the girl in front of her.

 _She isn't a young girl, she's a young woman._ Hermione thought as she trully saw the person in front of her. Slowly, her eyes focused onto the girls face and that's when she stood stunned, she was staring into two big innnocent brown orbs. It was as if she was looking into something so familiar and yet also so foreign. She couldn't quite place it but there was something about this young woman that was nudging the back of her brain. There was something about her that Hermione just couldn't put her finger on.

"I'm sorry again, Miss." The young girl said before quickly running off.

Hermione was left there standing all alone, watching the young woman's retreating form disappear into the crowd. _Do I know her? Have we met?_ These and many more questions swam around in her head but she didn't have enough time to ponder on it. Before she knew it, the whistle of the Hogwarts Express pierced through the noise of platform 9 ¾ as it notified everyone that it was almost time to leave.

"All aboard!"

xoxo

The whole Hogwarts Express was very lively as it left King's Cross Station. It roared loudly as it charged forward towards its destination, leaving behind a trail of white puffed smoke. The beautiful sceneries of the lands it passed by greeted it from both sides like a mother's embrace.

The excitement that each student was feeling was only heightened when they met with their friends and classmates onboard. And as soon as they were all re-united, the students, group-by-group, headed off to the available compartments along the train. Hermione didn't want to go through the trouble and hassel of squeezing herself into one of the student's compartments so she decided instead to walk further down the train to see if there were anymore vacant ones. She had almost lost hope when she reached the end of the last coach, luckily, she was able to finally find an empty compartment.

"Aren't I lucky." Hermione muttered as she peeked inside. It was indeed lucky of her to find an empty compartment considering the number of students she was riding with. Feeling tired from both the trip from her house to the station and then with all the walking around the train, Hermione simply stowed her luggage in the overhead and then tiredly slumped down on her seat.

She was ready to close her eyes and take nap when all of a sudden she heard a soft knocking from the door.

"Excuse me." A female voice said.

Hermione turned to look at the person who spoke, and immediately, she recognized the young woman as the one she had bumped into earlier on platform 9 ¾.

"I'm sorry but can I sit here with you? There isn't anymore room left in the other compartments." The young woman explained.

"It's okay. Please, come in." Hermione said with a smile as she gestured for the young woman to take a seat. Once she was seated, Hermione couldn't help but look at her closely. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen this young woman before. It was impossible though because her memory is flawless and she would have already connected the young woman's face with a name by now if she did know her.

After a while, Hermione decided to let it go for the time being and instead leave the subject alone until after a good nights sleep.

"I'm sorry again about earlier." Hermione told her.

"Please, don't worry about it, Professor. We were probably both to blame for that accident." The young woman replied, brushing off the earlier incident.

"You recognized me?" Hermione asked in surprise. She did her best to disguise herself and she was sure that her spells would not be easily disillussioned. That is why she was so surprised that someone had recognized her. It's even more surprising because of the fact that it was a student that did so.

As if reading her mind, the young woman answered the questions running in her head.

"I didn't really recognize you, Professor Granger. However, it was quite obvious who you were because you're the only one aboard the train that I didn't recognize. Of course, you could have used another mode of transportation but seeing that we have an unknown companion on the train then I assumed that it was you, and I was right." The young woman happily explained.

"Hmm... very smart. I'm sorry. I wasn't able to get your name."

"I'm Annabella, Annabella Black."


End file.
